- Title: Glee – 100
- wiki: link
For the show’s 100th episode, and to commemorate the end of the Glee Club at McKinley High School, Glee welcomes current and former members of New Directions (plus a few familiar guest-stars) to reinterpret several of the show’s more memorable numbers over its previous 99 episodes (several of which were chosen by a fan vote) for this week as well as next week’s 101st episode.
The episode’s songs include Will (Matthew Morrison) and April Rhodes (Kristin Chenoweth) performing Pink‘s “Raise Your Glass,” Santana (Naya Rivera) , Brittany (Heather Morris) and Quinn (Dianna Agron) reunite for a performance of Britney Spears‘ “Toxic,” Rachel (Lea Michele), Mercedes (Amber Riley) and Kurt (Chris Colfer) all perform a Diva-Off of “Defying Gravity” from Wicked, Santana and Brittany perform a duet of The Zutons‘ “Valerie,” Puck (Mark Salling) sings Avril Lavigne‘s “Keep Holding On,” and Holly Holiday (Gwyneth Paltrow) shows up to perform Pharrell Williams‘ “Happy.”
Various subplots include Brittany bemoaning her life as a math genius, Rachel and Mercedes reigniting their old rivalry, everyone (most notably Puck) being less than impressed by Quinn’s inattentive boyfriend Biff McIntosh (Chase Crawford) and the woman she’s growing into to please him, Santana and Rachel bringing their New York Funny Girl baggage back to Lima, April’s failed attempt to save the Glee Club, and the temptation of reigniting old flames.
I’m surprised the episode ends so abruptly, with only half of the reinterpreted numbers performed (and the fate of the Glee Club still looking rather bleak) given how much FOX hyped the “very special” episode. That said, there’s a lot to enjoy here including the return of Agron, Paltrow, and Chenoweth (none of whom we’ve seen in quite some time). The numbers are all solid, “Toxic” is sexy (if overproduced), and once again “Defying Gravity” is used to highlight the talent the show has been able to tap for the past five years.
